The role of acculturative stress and self-construal in maladaptive eating behaviors among female young adults in diverse college settings

IF 4.6 2区医学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Appetite Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2024.107844

Peiyi Wang , Chuansheng Chen , Ilona S. Yim

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The increasing cultural diversity in the United States means more college students identify with racial and ethnic minority backgrounds and may experience acculturative stress. Emerging research has found an association between acculturative stress and maladaptive eating. However, these studies rarely consider other theoretical factors or confounders, and individual differences. Thus, the unique contribution of acculturative stress and the generalizability of previous findings remain unclear.

Objective

This cross-sectional study investigated the role of acculturative stress and self-construal (i.e., how individuals define themselves in relation to others in social environments) in maladaptive eating among female college students.

Method

Participants were 446 female young adults (M_age = 20.38, SD = 1.75; M_BMI = 23.42, SD = 4.62) who completed online questionnaires.

Results

Structural equation modeling results showed that acculturative stress was related to higher disinhibited eating even when accounting for traditional theoretical risk factors (i.e., body dissatisfaction, perceived sociocultural pressures on body image, and general stress) and potential confounders (i.e., age, BMI, SES, ethnic backgrounds, and birthplace). Furthermore, independent self-construal (i.e., when individuals see themselves as autonomous, prioritizing personal goals and uniqueness over social relationships) moderated this association. When independent self-construal was higher, the magnitude of the regression coefficient between acculturative stress and disinhibited eating was smaller.

Discussion

Given the increasing diversity within U.S. higher education, eating behavior theories should consider integrating acculturative stress to improve inclusiveness. College psychological services should tailor prevention and treatment strategies for maladaptive eating to address acculturative stress, while also promoting an environment that supports healthy, independent self-construal.

查看原文本刊更多论文

异文化压力和自我解释在不同大学环境下年轻女性饮食不良行为中的作用。

美国日益增长的文化多样性意味着更多的大学生认同种族和少数民族背景，并可能经历文化异化压力。新兴研究发现，异文化压力和饮食不良之间存在关联。然而，这些研究很少考虑其他理论因素或混杂因素，以及个体差异。因此，异文化压力的独特贡献和先前研究结果的普遍性仍不清楚。目的：本横断面研究探讨异文化压力和自我建构（即个体如何在社会环境中定义自己与他人的关系）在女大学生饮食适应不良中的作用。方法：参与者为446名年轻女性(Mage = 20.38, SD = 1.75；MBMI = 23.42, SD = 4.62)。结果：结构方程建模结果显示，即使考虑到传统的理论风险因素（即身体不满意、对身体形象的感知社会文化压力和一般压力）和潜在的混杂因素（即年龄、体重指数、社会经济地位、种族背景和出生地），异文化压力也与更高的去抑制性饮食有关。此外，独立的自我解释（即当个体认为自己是自主的，优先考虑个人目标和独特性而不是社会关系时）调节了这种关联。当独立自我解释水平越高时，异文化应激与去抑制性进食之间的回归系数越小。讨论：鉴于美国高等教育日益多样化，饮食行为理论应考虑整合异文化压力以提高包容性。大学心理服务部门应该针对饮食适应不良量身定制预防和治疗策略，以解决异文化压力，同时也要营造一个支持健康、独立的自我构建的环境。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Appetite 医学-行为科学

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

11.10%

发文量

566

审稿时长

13.4 weeks

期刊介绍： Appetite is an international research journal specializing in cultural, social, psychological, sensory and physiological influences on the selection and intake of foods and drinks. It covers normal and disordered eating and drinking and welcomes studies of both human and non-human animal behaviour toward food. Appetite publishes research reports, reviews and commentaries. Thematic special issues appear regularly. From time to time the journal carries abstracts from professional meetings. Submissions to Appetite are expected to be based primarily on observations directly related to the selection and intake of foods and drinks; papers that are primarily focused on topics such as nutrition or obesity will not be considered unless they specifically make a novel scientific contribution to the understanding of appetite in line with the journal's aims and scope.